Former bartender guilty in Drama Club killing

Convicted murderer Jorell Young is led from the courtroom Friday by Terrebonne District Attorney
Investigator Brian Boudreaux (left) and sheriff’s Lt. Terry Daigre at the conclusion of his first-degree
murder trial.

Published: Friday, November 30, 2012 at 3:19 p.m.

Last Modified: Friday, November 30, 2012 at 3:19 p.m.

Immediately after Jorell Young was convicted of murdering the manager of a Houma night club, a Terrebonne prosecutor announced to those assembled in the courtroom that two of Young’s family members were under arrest for witness intimidation.

Young, 26, of Galliano, stared straight ahead as the court clerk announced that the jury had unanimously convicted him of first-degree murder in the Dec. 25, 2009, stabbing death of Robert LeCompte.

The verdict was culmination of a five-day trial held in Judge Johnny Walker’s court room.

Young faces a mandatory life prison sentence. He will be formally sentenced Jan. 18 by Walker.

Cateria Young, 27, and Nellie Young, 48, Jorell’s sister and mother, were handcuffed in the court room. Each is accused of threatening Young’s ex-girlfriend, Darkus Baker, whose police tip led to Jorell’s arrest.

An arrest warrant was issued for Desiree Pitre, 27, Jorell’s current girlfriend, authorities said. Pitre was not in the court room when the verdict was read.

If convicted of intimidating a witness, each faces up to 40 years in prison.

The murder verdict followed three days of testimony and less than two hours of deliberation.

Detectives and others testified that Young stole cash from the Drama Club, a North Hollywood Road bar that caters to mostly gay customers.

LeCompte, 39, of Houma, was Young’s former roommate and the bar’s manager. LeCompte was stabbed 13 times with a screwdriver in his head, neck and upper-body, according to court testimony.

“I never realized someone could stab someone so horribly with a screwdriver,” said Bonnie Orgeron, who saw photos of her son’s injuries for the first time during the trial. “The damage he done to my son’s body, it’s horrifying.”

In his closing argument, Trials Chief Mark Rhodes told jurors an abundance of evidence implicated Young in the murder.

Young came home with stacks of cash, confessed to Baker that he murdered someone and handed her a bag, which contained a bloody Drama Club T-shirt, Baker testified.

That blood was LeCompte’s, a DNA analyst told the jury.

Jurors also learned about a note detectives found under LeCompte’s body that says, “You Gave Me AIDS.”

When detectives questioned Young the day after the murder, Young told them LeCompte might have been murdered because he gave someone AIDS, Terrebonne sheriff’s Lt. Terry Daigre testified.

Prosecutors argued that Young probably wrote the note to throw off detectives.

Taking the stand — against his attorney’s advice — Thursday, Young testified that Jeremiah Washington murdered LeCompte and planted LeCompte’s Drama Club T-shirt on Young.

Washington is serving 20 years in the state penitentiary; Young is currently dating Washington’s ex-girlfriend.

Rhodes said offering up Washington as a suspect was “a ruse” and “so obviously fabricated.”

Young’s attorney, Kathryn Lirette, said Baker’s testimony was not to be trusted because she is a “spurned lover.”

Young, charged with first-degree murder, could have faced the death penalty. Prosecutors didn’t pursue that option, after consulting with LeCompte’s family, because doing so would add years to the process.

LeCompte’s sister and father attended the trial, but both declined comment.

The friends LeCompte made during the five years he worked at The Drama Club said they considered him family.

Randy Vito, 47, of Houma and LeCompte knew each other for 20 years and became close friends when LeCompte started bartending at the club.

“He was a kind person. He listened well,” Vito said. “He had a rough life, and he wanted to be a good person.”

After LeCompte’s death, many people who frequented The Drama Club stopped coming by, said Vito and his partner Lance Henry, 30.

“The reason I still come is because of Robert,” Vito said. “He’d want to keep it open, and he wouldn’t want people to be scared. It is a little hard, but every time I go there I think of him.”

LeCompte was well-known in Houma and “loved by everybody,” said club owner Randy Chestnut, who was also LeCompte’s landlord and roommate.

“I told him one time, he ought to run for office,” Chestnut testified. “He knew everybody.”

LeCompte was well-liked, Henry agreed, especially among the gay community.

LeCompte was the main reason Vito and Henry visited The Drama Club on weekends, the pair said.

“It’s tragic that he had to go in such a brutal way, and his life’s just over,” Vito said.

Cateria Young and Nellie Young remained in the Terrebonne Parish Jail late Friday, each in lieu of a $100,000 bond.

Although detectives knew of the alleged threats made against Baker by the Youngs and Pitre, they didn’t have the evidence they needed for their arrests until after Baker testified on Wednesday, Rhodes said.

Staff Writer Katie Urbaszewski can be reached at 448-7617 or katie.urbaszewski@dailycomet.com.

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